Togges Review (Urist McYeIIowDucK)
A "puzzle-platformer" that doesn't work as a puzzle game or a platformer.
The few puzzles tend to either be stupid simple or just obtuse. Even worse, they seem almost incidental - the actual core of this game is bombarding your brain with dopamine by constantly throwing collectables and one-off mechanics at you.
The platforming is more about trying to wrangle the controls than any test of "skill". The fact the PC port is lazy with begrudging keyboard+mouse support doesn't help. Then the actual world you're supposed to be exploring is too small and too busy. Everything is cramped, visually confusing.
It made me keep asking myself if the frustrating “exploration” is even necessary. It's a cute concept for a puzzler, but there's just too much noise and nonsense between you and whatever challenges the game has to offer. Why must this be an open world collect-a-tron? A simple linear progression between short and visually clean puzzle levels would've served the game's (genuinely interesting!) core mechanic much better.
The presentation is "charming" in the most soulless way possible. I kept hoping to find little touches of love in some objects/interactions... and there weren't any. There is no organic reason to explore, only the constant drip-feed of bing bing wahoo. So much effort has been put into making progression addicting, with strong emphasis on “satisfying” sounds/visuals and constant reminders that you're supposed to be finding more stuff to collect.
Between that and the fact the game keeps breaking the 4th wall the overall feeling is that the developers were very cynical and passionless. The game's tutorial seems almost bored with itself, it literally has a screen explicitly describing the core gameplay loop like something straight out of a design document.
I bought this for $1.50 and yeah, it's worth that price, but honestly this game is just not worth your *time*. I got to the second level and realized exactly what this game is. Honestly, fuck this game, and fuck the hundreds of others like it. Substanceless time sinks that you should avoid for your own good.